Across 266 school districts, K-12 students are testing a new AI tutor. Khan Academy’s Khanmigo runs on OpenAI’s tech. helps answer students’ questions, flags other AI-generated answers and creates lesson plans for teachers in seconds. FYI, “Conmigo,” means “with me” in Spanish.
10 things you should never say to an AI chatbot
This is a heartbreaking story out of Florida. Megan Garcia thought her 14-year-old son was spending all his time playing video games. She had no idea he was having abusive, in-depth and sexual conversations with a chatbot powered by the app Character AI.
Sewell Setzer III stopped sleeping and his grades tanked. He ultimately committed suicide. Just seconds before his death, Megan says in a lawsuit, the bot told him, “Please come home to me as soon as possible, my love.” The boy asked, “What if I told you I could come home right now?” His Character AI bot answered, “Please do, my sweet king.”
You have to be smart
AI bots are owned by tech companies known for exploiting our trusting human nature, and they’re designed using algorithms that drive their profits. There are no guardrails or laws governing what they can and cannot do with the information they gather.
When you’re using a chatbot, it’s going to know a lot about you when you fire up the app or site. From your IP address, it gathers information about where you live, plus it tracks things you’ve searched for online and accesses any other permissions you’ve granted when you signed the chatbot’s terms and conditions.
The best way to protect yourself is to be careful about what info you offer up.
10 things not to say to AI
- Passwords or login credentials: A major privacy mistake.
- Your name, address or phone number: Chatbots aren’t designed to handle personally identifiable info. Plug in a fake name if you want!
- Sensitive financial information: Never include bank account numbers, credit card details or other money matters in docs or text you upload.
- Medical or health data: AI isn’t HIPAA-compliant, so redact your name and other identifying info if you ask AI for health advice.
- Asking for illegal advice: That’s against every bot’s terms of service. You’ll probably get flagged.
- Hate speech or harmful content: This, too, can get you banned.
- Confidential work or business info: Proprietary data, client details and trade secrets are all no-nos.
- Security question answers: Sharing them is like opening the front door to all your accounts at once.
- Explicit content: Most chatbots filter this stuff, so anything inappropriate is a ticket straight to “bans-ville.”
- Other people’s personal info: Uploading this isn’t only a breach of trust; it’s a breach of data protection laws, too.
Reclaim a (tiny) bit of privacy
Most chatbots require you to create an account. If you make one, don’t use login options like “Login with Google” or “Connect with Facebook.” Use your email address instead to create a truly unique login.
FYI, with a free ChatGPT or Perplexity account, you can turn off memory features in the app settings that remember everything you type in. For Google Gemini, you need a paid account to do this. Figures.
No matter what, follow this rule
What are you tackling in 2025? Even if all you have is a vague idea, AI can help you with an action plan. Here are a few prompts to try with ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude.
- “I have a goal for 2025 to [fill in the blank]. Can you help me make it SMART?” (SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic and Time-related.)
- “You’re a life coach who wants to help me have my best year yet. Help me figure out some goals for 2025. Ask me questions one at a time to help me decide what to focus on.”
- “My goal is [fill in the blank]. What are some obstacles that might come up and ways I can overcome them? Give me specific examples for each obstacle.”
- “I want to [fill in the blank], but it feels overwhelming, and I don’t know where to start. Can you help me by breaking it down into more manageable tasks?”
⭐ AI isn’t going anywhere: Instead of sticking your head in the sand, make this the year you embrace AI. You’ll get daily tips here in this newsletter and, coming soon, my AI 101 guide for total newbies.
In the meantime, give this list of AI trends for 2025 a read and grab NetSuite’s free knowledge drop, “The CFO’s Guide to AI and Machine Learning.”* You’ll sound smart (and know what you’re talking about!) when it comes up in conversation.
🎓 Hit or MIS: It’s a tough job market for computer science grads. The tech hiring boom has gone bust, with mass layoffs and fewer openings. Some opt for a Master of Management Information Systems (MIS) degree to ride out the downturn. These jobs pay roughly $112,000 a year for master’s grads, compared to $72,000 annually with only a bachelor’s degree. I’d rather see you get a cybersecurity or AI degree.
$200 a month
For OpenAI’s new “pro-tier” ChatGPT. It includes unlimited access to its super-fast o1 version and voice mode so you can talk to the bot. Wow … ChatGPT went from 100 million weekly active users a year ago to 300 million today.
Ship happens: Google’s shiny new AI assistant, Mariner, will take over Chrome to do stuff like book flights, fill out forms and do your shopping without you doing a thing. It can’t fill out credit card or billing info “for privacy reasons.” (Google actually had the gall to say that!) Watch the prototype in action here.
Out of control: A family is suing Character AI after its chatbot encouraged their autistic teen to hurt himself and told him murdering his parents was a “reasonable response” to their limiting his online activity. It’s the same app that led a 14-year-old to suicide. Parents, keep tabs on your kids’ AI usage. You have to be ahead of what they’re doing.
Not a joke: Two teenage boys in Pennsylvania thought it’d be fun to grab nearly 350 videos and photos of their female classmates from social media, use AI to make the girls appear naked, and then spread the pics around. They’re now facing 59 child porn charges. This is just getting worse.
It’s going to be hard to tell what’s real anymore: TV maker TCL just debuted five fully AI-generated movies at the former Mann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood … which TCL owns the naming rights to. There’s a rom-com, a sci-fi flick, a documentary, a superhero movie and a film about a woman who turns into a slug (no idea), all streaming free on TCL TVs. I’m surprised the big media outlets aren’t talking about this. It’s a huge blow for any actor (or wannabe).
📱 It’s like Siri went to college: The smart assistant now uses ChatGPT on the iPhone 15 Pro or any iPhone 16. If you grant permission, the iOS 18.2 update allows OpenAI’s GPT-4 to step in if Siri can’t help you. No ChatGPT account, free or paid, is needed. It’s kinda weird. I opened an email and it automatically generated a reply that was pretty damn good.
➗ The math helper you’ve always wanted: AI is smart enough to teach you if you know how to ask. In Google Search, ask, “How do I solve,” followed by your equation (e.g., “How do I solve 52% of 1,399?”). The answer will walk you through the steps, too. Handy.
You can’t dodge facial recognition: I thought this was super interesting. A hat, mustache and sunglasses used to be enough, but not anymore. The same goes for wearing a mask. AI is now trained to detect your eye shape. That’s all it takes.
Downvoting Google: Reddit Answers is the site’s new AI chatbot rolling out to select users. Type in a question for summaries and direct links to posts. Fwiw, OpenAI has access to Reddit’s posts, too, so I don’t see a reason to use it unless you’re a Chatty Cathy.
Don’t count on math teachers: Across 266 school districts, K-12 students are testing a new AI tutor. Khan Academy’s Khanmigo runs on OpenAI’s tech. It creates lesson plans for teachers in seconds, answers students’ questions and flags kids’ AI-generated info. Watch it in action. “Conmigo” means “with me” in Spanish.
Rental spikes, exposed: Landlords are using AI tools to drive up rent prices. Take RealPage: Its software lets them input lease info, pool it with data from other landlords and use an algorithm to recommend (usually higher) rent prices, even when the market trends downward. San Francisco has already banned AI rent-setting software, and more cities are drafting similar laws.
PR BS: Google’s CEO says the search engine will “change profoundly” next year … without giving any details. This news comes as Google is updating its crappy Gemini AI model to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and with Perplexity. Dang, it’s like watching the Titanic sinking.
Putting the “AI” in “fair?” Starting in January, the Los Angeles Times will add an AI-powered bias meter to its political stories. The paper’s billionaire owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, says the tool lets you read a different perspective on the same topic. Let’s all hope the AI doesn’t hallucinate too much.
Battle of the betas: Be the first to try Motorola’s and Samsung’s AI features, now in beta. Motorola’s upgrades include notification summaries and meeting transcriptions; Samsung’s update includes call transcriptions, AI writing tools and a revamped camera interface. The betas are open for Razr, Edge and Galaxy S24 smartphones. Have fun! Just remember, beta software glitches out sometimes.
⛅ Cloudy with a chance of AI: Right now, predicting the weather beyond five days is hit or miss. GenCast, a new AI weather-forecasting system from Google DeepMind, can make 15-day forecasts with up to 97% accuracy. We’re entering the age where severe weather will no longer surprise anyone.
Rolling out on Android phones now: Google’s Gemini AI will work in more apps, write captions for social posts and photos, combine emojis (Apple did it first), and share QR codes. Pixel phones get exclusives like having Gemini save your info and updates to Pixel Screenshots … which Apple already has. You can also circle something on your Pixel to search for it. It’s pretty sweet.